Industrial New Product Development Research Articles

QUASI-STATIC BENDING FATIGUE OF CARBON CORD–RUBBER COMPOSITES USED IN TIMING BELTS

ABSTRACT Cord–rubber composites such as timing belts are subjected to coupled tension and bending under typical service conditions. Due to their increased modulus, carbon cords are replacing traditional glass cords as reinforcing materials in timing belt products. The bending fatigue behavior of carbon cord–reinforced hydrogenated butadiene rubber (CC-HNBR) composites is of increasing interest for both understanding their failure mechanism and supporting the development of new industrial products. In this work, a simple experimental setup that replicated in a simplified way the real-pulley situation encountered in a timing belt operation was developed to investigate the effects of applied tension, bending curvature, frequency, and R ratio on the bending fatigue life of CC-HNBR composites. Furthermore, a numerical investigation of the stress distribution within the CC-HNBR composite, under both uniaxial tension and coupled tension and bending loading, was carried out using finite element analysis. Cord-dominated fracture was observed close to the point at which the specimen just left the pulley using a thermal imaging camera at high stress levels. This location is due to the combined effects of bending and maximum tension at this site. There was a reduction in the bending fatigue life as a result of a higher level of bending strain introduced by a smaller-diameter pulley. Frequency had negligible effects on the bending fatigue life within testing regimens probably resulting from the rubber generating only limited heat buildup even at the highest test frequencies. Higher R ratios led to a longer bending fatigue life, potentially due to the strain-induced crystallization of the HNBR matrix at the tip of any generated cracks. This study provides a basic investigation into the bending fatigue behavior of CC-HNBR composites under coupled tension and bending loading conditions, shedding some light on the failure characteristics of CC-HNBR composites under the interaction of bending and tension deformations.

Aquaculture and agriculture‐by products as sustainable sources of omega‐3 fatty acids in the food industry

The valorization of by‐products is currently a matter of great concern to improve the sustainability of the food industry. High quality by‐products derived from the food chain are omega‐3 fatty acids, being fish the main source of docosahexaenoic acid and eicosapentaenoic acid. The search for economic and sustainable sources following the standards of circular economy had led to search for strategies that put in value new resources to obtain different omega‐3 fatty acids, which could be further employed in the development of new industrial products without producing more wastes and economic losses. In this sense, seeds and vegetables, fruits and crustaceans by products can be an alternative. This review encompasses all these aspects on omega‐3 fatty acids profile from marine and agri‐food by‐products together with their extraction and purification technologies are reported. These comprise conventional techniques like extraction with solvents, cold press, and wet pressing and, more recently proposed ones like, supercritical fluids fractionation and purification by chromatographic methods. The information collected indicates a trend to combine different conventional and emerging technologies to improve product yields and purity. This paper also addresses encapsulation strategies for their integration in novel foods to achieve maximum consumer acceptance and to ensure their effectiveness.

Hybrid polarizable simulations of a conventional hydrophobic polyelectrolyte. Toward a theoretical tool for green science innovation.

Hybrid modeling approaches based on all-atom force fields to handle a solute and coarse-grained models to account for the solvent are promising numerical tools that can be used to understand the properties of large and multi-components solutions and thus to speed up the development of new industrial products that obey the standard of green and sustainable chemistry. Here, we discuss the ability of a full polarizable hybrid approach coupled to a standard molecular dynamics scheme to model the behavior in the aqueous phase and at infinite dilution conditions of a standard hydrophobic polyelectrolyte polymer whose charge is neutralized by explicit counterions. Beyond the standard picture of a polyelectrolyte behavior governed by an interplay between opposite intra-polyelectrolyte and inter-polyelectrolyte/counterion Coulombic effects, our simulations show the key role played by both intra-solute polarization effects and long range solute/solvent electrostatics to stabilize compact globular conformations of that polyelectrolyte. Our full polarizable hybrid modeling approach is thus a new theoretical tool well suited to be used in digital strategies for accelerating innovation for green science, for instance.

SmartPlastic: Innovative Touch-Based Human-Vehicle Interface Sensors for the Automotive Industry

Environmental concern regularly leads to the study and improvement of manufacturing processes and the development of new industrial products. The purpose of this work is to optimize the amount of injected plastic and reduce the number of parts used in the production of entrance panels to control features inside the car cabin. It focuses on a particular case study, namely the control of opening and closing windows and rotation of the rear-view mirrors of a car, maintaining all of the functionality and introducing a futuristic and appealing design inline with new autonomous driving vehicles. For this purpose, distinct low-cost touch sensor technologies were evaluated and the performance of several types of sensors that were integrated with plastic polymers of distinct thickness was analyzed. Discrete sensors coupled to the plastic part were tested and integrated in the injected plastic procedure. In the former, sensitivity tests were performed for finding the maximum plastic thickness detectable by the different sensors. For the latter, experiments were carried out on the sensors subject to very high pressure and temperature inside the molds—the two most relevant characteristics of industrial plastic injection in this context—and functional results were observed later. We conclude that, by changing the way the user interacts with the car cabin, the replacement of conventional mechanical buttons—composed of dozens of parts—by a component consisting of a single plastic part that is associated with conventional low-cost electronics allows the control of a more diversified set of features, including many that are not yet usual in the interior of automobiles today, but that will eventually be required in the near future of autonomous driving, in which the user will interact less with driving and more with other people or services around her/him, namely of the multimedia type. Additionally, the economic factor was considered, namely regarding the cost of the new technology as well as its manufacturing, replacement, and subsequent recycling processes.

Промышленные предприятия и их маркетинг–модели: новые аспекты, проблемы и подходы

Цель: разработка методологических подходов к организации бизнеса, маркетинга и эффективных коммуникаций на промышленных предприятиях с учётом их специфики, а также изменений в силе и способе конкуренции, в спросе делового потребителя, институциональной среде и тенденций цифровизации экономики. Обсуждение: специфика промышленного производства с точки зрения рынка влияет на формирование моделей маркетинга, в связи с чем должна быть исследована возможность использования некоторых прогрессивных моделей по созданию ценностного предложения при разработке новой промышленной продукции. Результаты: обоснована правомерность использования теории компромиссов для формирования эффективного взаимодействия между производителями и потребителями промышленной продукции в процессе разработки товара. Предложена типология современных вариаций промышленного маркетинга с целью повышения уровня маркетингового управления промышленными предприятиями, в том числе и их инновационными проектами для рынка В2В. Уточнены сущность, содержание и схема проект-маркетинга, выявлены его достоинства и возможные проблемы, а также области использования с наибольшим эффектом.

Improving new product development innovation effectiveness by using problem solving tools during the conceptual development phase: Integrating Design Thinking and TRIZ

The objective of this research is to improve innovation effectiveness during new product development (NPD) processes in industry by using problem‐solving techniques during the conceptual development phase. The concept phase of physical NPDs is widely recognized in the literature as the time when the target market is identified, alternative product concepts are created and evaluated for further development and testing, also called the “fuzzy front end” or “discovery stage”. Design Thinking (DT) and TRIZ were the chosen problem‐solving techniques to support this stage because of their complementariness. While DT is most recognized as an approach that drives project teams toward the end‐users, TRIZ has its main strength during idea generation and selection processes where it has a robust set of analytical tools to drive NPD teams to a final product concept. After conducting a literature review to understand the strengths and limitations of both techniques, a framework is proposed by integrating them into the conceptual development phase of an industrial NPD process. The proposed framework is then tested and validated after being applied successfully in an NPD process in the automotive industry. The automotive industry is a good example of an incremental type of industry when designing its components for new vehicle models, and is therefore a very appropriate laboratory for validating the proposed framework.

Does the work environment affect designers’ creativity during the creative phase depending on their personality profile?

Creativity is one of the fundamental elements to be taken into consideration in the conceptual design phases of the development of new industrial products. It is widely agreed that every individual is creative by nature and that his or her creative capacity may be conditioned by different variables within the work environment. Yet, studies that analyse these variables often treat users in a generalised manner, without paying attention to their specific characteristics.This study sets out from the hypothesis that the user’s psychological profile influences the way in which the work environment affects the designer’s creativity when addressing the conceptual design phase. Thus, the aim of this study will be to determine whether developing a conceptual design proposal in a “relaxing” or an “arousing” work environment will affect all designers equally or, conversely, it will have a greater effect on some of them depending on their psychological profile.Consequently, the first stage of the study consisted in characterising each member of the control group using the NEO-FFI test. The different users were then distributed into four groups according to the results obtained. In a second phase, each designer developed conceptual proposals for a problem in each of the environments defined for the study. A neutral environment was added as a control element. Subsequently, the CPSS methodology was used to evaluate the creativity of each of the proposals designed in each of the environments.The conclusions from the study show that there is a relationship between some personality profiles and the level of creativity achieved by the designer according to the work environment in which the conceptual proposals have been developed.

Synthesis of novel metal complexes of 2-((phenyl (2-(4-sulfophenyl) hydrazono) methyl) diazenyl) benzoic acid formazan dyes: Characterization, antimicrobial and optical properties studies on leather

We have developed novel formazan dyes (18–23) of enhanced fastness properties with cost-effectiveness in an aqueous system, without employing any Buffers and organic solvents. Their development was entailed of the synthesis of 2-((phenyl (2-(4-sulfophenyl) hydrazono) methyl) diazenyl) benzoic acid followed by the diazotization of 2-aminobenzoic acid that further reacted with the 4-[(2Z)-2-benzylidenehydrazinyl] benzene sulfonic acid. The multi-chromic (1:1 and 2:1) metal complexes of 2-((phenyl (2-(4-sulfophenyl) hydrazono) methyl) diazenyl) benzoic acid had been developed with the salts of Cr, Fe, Co, Cu and Ni; and they were characterized by elemental analysis, powder X-ray crystallography, Ultraviolet–visible, Fourier transforms infrared, Proton nuclear magnetic resonance and C13-nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopic techniques. Density functional theory (DFT) studies of all dyes (18–23) were performed to evaluate the most stable geometries and structural parameters as well. The synthesized formazan dyes were evaluated for their different fastness (light, wash, perspiration), exhaustion and fixation properties on goat leather fabric and were revealed to have virtuous fastness properties (3–5, 4–5, 3–5, and 4–5) with high percentage value of exhaustion and fixation ranged from 91 to 97% and 90–98% respectively. The synthesized formazan dyes (18–23) were developed different colors such as Red, Brown, Green, Black, and Blue on leather. Synthesized formazan dyes were also evaluated for their antibacterial propensity on leather substrate and in solution by agar well diffusion method. The metal complex formazan dye (21) was demonstrated the significant bactericidal propensity against E. coli, S. aureus, Klebsiella and B. subtilis in solution and on leather by exhibiting maximum ZOIs (19 ± 0.05 mm, 25 ± 0.07 mm, 23 ± 0.09 mm, 27 ± 0.03 mm) and percentage reduction in bacterial growth (60 ± 0.03%, 69 ± 0.07%, 80 ± 0.05% and 86 ± 0.08%) respectively. Hence, newly synthesized formazan dyes (18–23) have efficient optical and antibacterial properties that would be proved valuable for the development of new industrial products to be commercialize.

Multi-stage recovery of phytochemicals from buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum Moench) flowers by supercritical fluid and pressurized liquid extraction methods

Supercritical fluid extraction with carbon dioxide and co-solvent ethanol (SFE–CO2/ET) and pressurized liquid extraction (PLE) with the increasing polarity solvents, hexane (HX), acetone (AC), ethanol/water (ET/W) and water (W) were applied for recovery of bioactive substances from buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) flowers (BWF). The products obtained were evaluated for their antioxidant capacity and phytochemical composition. Extract yields varied from 1.78 to 35.6% with the highest values for ET/W (21.7–35.6%), while the total yields were in the range of 37.02–64.05%. Comparing total phenolic content (TPC) and radical scavenging capacity in ABTS assay W extracts were weaker antioxidants than AC and ET/W extracts, while ORAC was in the range of 672–2114μmol Trolox equivalents/g. The highest total TPC and TEAC was obtained using PLE at 140°C, while the highest ORAC value was obtained using SFE–CO2/PLE combination. Antioxidant activity indicators of solid plant substances were followed during extraction by using QUENCHER method. Lipophilic fractions were weaker antioxidants although they contained high concentrations of tocopherols, up to 392μg/g dry weight of extract (DWE). Seven phytochemicals were quantified in BWF, rutin being the major constituent (70–110mg/g DWE) followed by quercitrin (6.4–88.0mg/g DWE) and citric acid (0.31–31.3mg/g DWE). Extracts increased the oxidative stability of rapeseed oil and emulsion in Oxipres and Rancimat assays. High pressure fractionation schemes have never been applied to BWF previously: as a result new promising fractions have been obtained, which may serve as a good platform for the development of new industrial products.

Market intelligence and NPD success: a study of technology intensive companies in Finland

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate how managers in technology‐intensive companies conceptualize and perceive “intelligence” variables in successful and unsuccessful new product development (NPD) projects, and explore the role that intelligence variables play in differentiating between successful and unsuccessful NPD outcomes. Limitations and future research directions are also discussed.Design/methodology/approachThe most senior person responsible for NPD within a sample of Finnish technology‐intensive companies completed a self‐administered internet survey on the role of intelligence in successful and unsuccessful NPD projects. The JMP 1‐2‐3‐software package (version 8 for Mac) by SAS was used for statistical analysis.FindingsThe findings indicate that managers in technology‐intensive companies rely on two broad types of intelligence, technical production and market information, during the NPD process. Most intelligence variables are positively related to NPD success. In addition, it appears that managers attach lower importance to intelligence variables in successful NPD outcomes when comparisons are made with previous research.Practical implicationsManagers in Finnish technology‐intensive companies should carefully analyze both technical‐production information and market information in the NPD process although technical‐production information is the more important factor in the analysis of information requirements in successful NPD outcomes relative to market information.Originality/valueAlthough market intelligence variables have been studied in the context of differentiating successful and unsuccessful industrial NPD, they have largely focused on the NPD process in broad‐based industrial and manufacturing companies. The paper examines the role of market intelligence in the NPD process of technology‐intensive companies using Finland as the study setting.

Bioinfo_eXtrema : un enfoque bioinformático para integrar información ambiental, bioquímica y genómica, enfocado en bioprospección y selección de consorcios de microorganismos con aplicaciones en biorremediación

The ability to identify microbe extremophiles with metabolic capabilities suited for specific bioprocesses opens the doors of extreme environments for development of new industrial products. Identification of key functional components from existing biodiversity supported selection of candidate isolates from three Penicillium fungal species. These candidates were evaluated in vitro to further characterize their potential as components of a microbial consortium for biorremediation of industrial effluents containing lignocellulosic residues. Results from annotation of available genomic sequences for one of these Penicillium species pointed to the existence of putative genes highly similar to those functionally identified in reference fungi for degradation of lignin in natural environments. Proposed functional annotations from available sequences were identified through a specialized database –Fungal Oxidative Lignin Enzymes (FOLy)– and could be contrasted straightforward with experimental results for strains growing in different media containing lignin, representing extreme industry-related environments. We propose the as- sembly of Bioinfo_eXtreme as an industrial-biotechnology-centered bioinformatics approach for consortia selection, combining diverse data mining techniques –components of the Waikato Environment for Knowledge Analysis (WEKA)–, to facilitate inte- gration of available molecular information and relevant phenotypic indicators for biorremediation applications.

The Selection of Materials to Match Human Sensory Adaptation and Aesthetic Expectation in Industrial Design

it is significantly important to integrate various sources of knowledge and information for selecting and combining materials in today’s industrial design practice and education. compared to the engineering and technical properties of materials, the information about the aesthetic attributes and sensory or perceptual features of materials is equally important but has been less explored. Based on theoretical and experimental research, this article addresses the fundamental contents of material aesthetics and sensory perception and the methodology in approaching the research in this area. a material aesthetics database resulting from the author’s research activities with a focus on texture is also introduced. examples are given to showcase how the research results are applied as a reference for new product development in industry, and how the research results are combined with other resources in facilitating materials teaching in industrial design education.

Critical Success Factors in Russian R&D Projects in the Real Economy

The article discusses the concept of "success" in relation to innovative business and its performance. The quantity of innovative projects that can consistently overcome the stages of the innovation process to achieve the desired result is defined. The author presents the results of empirical research of successful and unsuccessful projects of leading Russian innovative companies in various industries, identifies key factors of successful development of new industrial products.

Developing a self-assessment model for measuring new product development performance: an AHP approach

This paper identified a list of twenty-one elements under seven performance criteria as advocated in literature that affect new product development (NPD) practices and performance in industry. Incorporating the findings of interviews with industry practitioners and experts in Hong Kong, a generic self-assessment model of NPD performance was developed using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) methodology. It was found that 'results orientation', 'customer focus' and 'strategy' constituted to the most important criteria. With the aid of the HP software, the collected data was analysed, and the relative importance of performance criteria and elements was computed. The point values for scoring criteria and sub-elements of model were devised using the normalised weights of empirical findings obtained from the AHP analysis. This paper contributes to identifying the performance criteria and developing the assessment model for managing NPD in industry. Further research is needed to investigate the applicability of the self-assessment model.

Lead User Analyses for the Development of New Industrial Products

Recently, a “lead user” concept has been proposed for new product development in fields subject to rapid change (von Hippel [von Hippel, E. 1986. Lead users: A source of novel product concepts. Management Sci. 32 791–805.]). In this paper we integrate market research within this lead user methodology and report a test of it in the rapidly evolving field of computer-aided systems for the design of printed circuit boards (PC-CAD). In the test, lead users were successfully identified and proved to have unique and useful data regarding both new product needs and solutions responsive to those needs. New product concepts generated on the basis of lead user data were found to be strongly preferred by a representative sample of PC-CAD users. We discuss strengths and weaknesses of this first empirical test of the lead user methodology, and suggest directions for future research.

The market development of new industrial products

Explores the problems of marketing a new material to raise main demand in traditionally stable markets, and examines nine companies in depth in the steel, aluminium and plastics industries. Concerns itself with this critical functional area of the initial market development of new industrial products. Uses only two companies, one in the aluminium and the other in the steel industries, in the study. Concludes that the strong influence of financial considerations in several aspects of market development seem likely to mean only low funds will be needed compared with research and capital investment costs.